The following is a round-up of earnings for London-listed companies, issued on Friday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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Sovereign Metals Ltd - Malawi-focused mining exploration and development company - Pretax loss narrows to A$5.8 million in year ended June 30, from A$13.7 million the year before. Interest income surges to A$268,967 from A$33,117. Notes completion of pre-feasibility study at its flagship Kasiya rutile-graphite project in Malawi and Rio Tinto PLC’s A$40.6 million, around £21.0 million, investment in July for a 15% stake. Sovereign had cash and equivalents of A$5.6 million at June 30, down from A$18.9 million one year prior. Company now plans to advance into optimisation phase at Kasiya before moving to a definitive feasibility study with Rio Tinto’s support, and conduct further exploration programmes across rutile targets identified on its tenements. Also says it has issued 6.1 million fully paid shares upon the conversion of 6.1 million ‘PFS Milestone’ performance rights held by directors, employees and consultants.
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Jade Road Investments Ltd - Hong Kong-based investment company backing small and medium enterprises worldwide - Net asset value at June 30 was 5 US cents or around 4 pence per share, down from 13 cents per share at December 31. Cash balance decreased to $100,000 from $437,000. Swings to $1.4 million pretax loss in first half of 2023, from a $1.0 million profit the year before. Gross portfolio income fell 62% to $588,000 from $1.6 million. Company intends to dispose of all its legacy Asia-based assets, and says future investments will be made in asset backed income-generating companies. Chair John Croft says disposal progress ‘has inevitably been slow,’ but that ‘I am hopeful that announcements on some core asset disposals can be made during this year.’
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GreenX Metals Ltd - Greenland-focused mineral exploration and development company - Pretax loss for year ended June 30 slightly narrows to $3.5 million from $3.7 million the previous year. Revenue increases 20% to $313,149 from $261,543. Expenses relating to GreenX’s international arbitration claim against the Polish government, with GreenX claiming damages of up to £737 million, were virtually unchanged at $5.0 million. Cash balance at June 30 was $8.7 million, up from $6.1 million one year before. Company intends to pursue litigation in Poland, as well as to continue with exploration activities in Greenland.
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Alien Metals Ltd - Australia-focused minerals exploration and development company - Pretax loss for the first half of 2023 widens to $1.6 million from a $1.4 million loss in 2022. Administration expenses increase 21% to $1.7 million. Cash balance at June 30 was $145,000, down from $2.2 million year on year. Company plans to focus on further developing its Hancock iron ore project in Western Australia, saying the project is nearing production status ‘which will be transformative for the company once we finalise this.’
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R&Q Insurance Holdings Ltd - Hamilton, Bermuda-based non-life specialty insurance - Reports pretax loss of $52.1 million for the first half of 2023, dramatically widened from $6.5 million the prior year. Total revenue reaches positive $188.0 million, compared with negative $24.3 million the year before. Total expenses skyrocket to $240.1 million from $17.8 million. Says both its Program Management and Legacy Insurance businesses have bright futures, and its focus remains on the planned separation of the two businesses.
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British & American Investment Trust PLC - London-based investment firm - NAV at June 30 was 25p per share, up from 18p at the same time one year prior. Declares a dividend for the first half of 2023 of 1.75p per share, up from no dividend the previous year. Net assets increased 23% to £8.7 million at June 30 from £7.1 million at December 31, outperforming the FTSE All Share index which increased 0.5%. Company says this out-performance was due to a significant increase in the value of Geron Corp Inc and Lineage Cell Therapeutics Inc, its two major US investments. Says however that value of its Geron investment ‘has inexplicably declined’ by 30%. Says ‘it is difficult to be very positive about the investment climate going forward,’ but that it will continue to maintain its current portfolio profile and ‘aim to capture the market independent gains which such investment should provide.’
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